


so I run to the river (it was boiling)

by Shenno



Category: Good Omens - Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett, Les Misérables - All Media Types, Les Misérables - Schönberg/Boublil, Les Misérables - Victor Hugo
Genre: Alternate Universe - Good Omens Fusion, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angel!Javert, Demon!Valjean, Fix-It, Gen, Good Omens AU, M/M, Suicidal Thoughts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-14
Updated: 2019-08-14
Packaged: 2020-09-01 00:04:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,086
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20248867
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shenno/pseuds/Shenno
Summary: “You should return to your Antichrist daughter and mind your own business.”Valjean just stared at him silently with those yellow owlish eyes which have always seemed to be far too kind for someone like him – especially directed at someone like Javert.“I am still perfectly capable of smiting you right on this spot,” Javert tried to imbue his voice with the angelic righteous anger, but instead it came out chocked.AKA Good Omens AU, in which Valjean still finds Javert on the Pont au Change.





	so I run to the river (it was boiling)

**Author's Note:**

> English is not my first language and this is un-betaed, so any possible weirdness is mine.  
The title is from Nina Simone's "Sinnerman" (because I'm terrible at coming up with any names/titles and spent an hour pouring through the lyrics of all the songs I ever associated with valvert)

  
Javert stepped closer to the edge of the parapet. The tips of his boots were now over the empty air, and his wings, tucked away into another dimension, shuffled restlessly. Javert willed them to stillness. He had no intention to fly – only to Fall.  
  
Over his head, the clouded and light-polluted sky was sickly yellow. The Seine beneath his feet, reflecting it, looked too much like a dirty swamp. It seemed fitting. All those thousands of years ago he was given a chance to prove himself despite the flaming sword fiasco. And he tried, he did his best, he always followed the orders, stuck to the rules – up until the moment that cursed demon saved him, and proved he somehow managed to raise the Antichrist to be good and compassionate. It was not Javert’s place to doubt the Great Plan or the necessity of the Apocalypse. But somehow _that demon_ had made him doubt, and instead of smiting him, Javert let him go, and… here he was. Good and obedient angel, doubting not merely himself but his superiors, and the Heaven, and even…  
  
Surely it should be enough to Fall. He no longer deserved to be in a state of Grace. He didn’t feel any different though. Perhaps a symbolic gesture was required. What counted as a mortal sin for humans, surely must work as a resignation note.  
  
Will he end up in the Seine’s water or immediately in some burning sulfur lake? He was never really interested in why’s and how’s of the Falling. He satisfied himself with the knowledge that all Fallen deserved their punishment, however harsh and painful it might be. Thinking of the kindness in Valjean’s eyes, he now doubted it as well.

Perhaps the Almighty would be merciful and let him resign by drowning as if he were mortal? No, it’s unlikely.  
  
He believed Her to be God of the Law, and he was wrong. Valjean believed Her to be God of Mercy, but if She had been inclined to be merciful to any of Her children, all of this, all of the miserable human history, wouldn’t have been _like this._  
  
Perhaps, Javert thought resentfully and shuddered at his own blasphemy, we are both wrong and She is no longer there at all.

His thoughts were sluggish and distant as if the sound of rushing waters beneath his feet was drowning them out. He felt as if he were pulled apart at the invisible seam and at the same time numb to it.  
  
Was Her mercy what Valjean had been thinking of, moments before he Fell? Had he also doubted whether She cared at all? Never before had he wondered what Valjean did to Fall. Javert just assumed that he deserved it, that despite all his pretense of repentance, he was evil like the rest of them.  
  
How sure he had been. How steadfast.  
  
…And here he was seconds from Falling still thinking of Valjean, as he did for all those six thousand years. 

(So maybe not so steadfast after all.)

Javert laughed silently. If there were any humans around, this laugh would have terrified them. Fortunately, he kept enough presence of mind to ensure no cars or passersby wandered here at this time.

As if to disprove his thought, the sound of hurried steps echoed across the empty bridge.

“Speak of the Devil,” Javert muttered without turning around.

He first heard those uneven (as some of the demons could not fully heal the wounds they received during the Fall even in their new corporations) steps on the wall of the Eden. Then – time and time again. Different places, different times. For some reason, they always orbited each other, in the crowded streets of Rome, in Venice’s plague hospitals and Parisian taverns, never close enough to really come in contact after the first time, when Valjean had stolen his sword to give to the humans, but not far enough to let Javert forget about him even for a decade either.  
  
“Go away,” he said out loud.  
  
“I’m afraid I cannot,” Valjean sounded slightly out of breath but carefully calm, as if he were speaking to a spooked animal. For some reason, this attempt not to startle him, not to sound antagonizing, infuriated Javert even more.  
  
He turned around sharply. Valjean was standing close enough to touch, and his face was full of that same cursed compassionate understanding. Javert always believed it to be an unconvincing mask, but now it filled him with even more helpless rage.  
  
“You should return to your Antichrist daughter and mind your own business,” Javert’s voice sounded far less controlled than he would have liked.  
  
Valjean just stared at him silently with those yellow owlish eyes which have always seemed to be far too kind for someone like him – especially directed at someone like Javert.  
  
“I am still perfectly capable of smiting you right on this spot,” Javert tried to imbue his voice with the angelic righteous anger, but instead it came out chocked, and Javert fell silent fearing what else – and how – he might say.  
  
“I know,” agreed Valjean calmly. “I told you, if you gave Cosette a chance to do the right thing, I would be in your power. So, I am.”  
  
After a brief hesitation, he put his hand on Javert’s arm in an awkward but unmistakable attempt at comfort. Without knowing why, Javert trembled, for this simple touch felt as terrifying and ecstatic as being in Her Presence.  
  
For a long moment, they stared at each other mutely, and both smiting and Falling were far from Javert’s mind.  
  
After what felt like an eternity, Valjean stirred.  
  
“Come with me?” he said hesitantly  
  
“Come with you,” Javert repeated without any inflection.  
  
“Yes. To my apartment. Have you ever tried sleeping?” Valjean honest to God tried to smile. “It is refreshing to body and mind sometimes, even for us.”

Javert let this “us” slide. Valjean offering to go home with him and, of all things, to sleep, was so absurd that Javert couldn’t even find it in himself to be angry anymore. Some new sort of weary resignation settled in him. The roaring emptiness behind still called, the voice in his head which was neither hellish nor divine whispering contradictory words of how he couldn’t allow the vile demon to tempt him, and how he didn’t deserve Valjean’s kindness – but Valjean’s hand on his arm was warm and solid and somehow more real than everything else.  
  
Without breaking the contact, Javert climbed off the parapet.

**Author's Note:**

> If you watched the BBC adaptation, _that demon_ is totally a reference to THAT MAN because that's one of the few parts of that series I 100% accept xD 
> 
> I have plot bunnies for some possible sequels (a series of drabbles?), but my ficwriting skills rarely cooperate with me as I want them to, so I can promise nothing. If anyone's interested, I talked about a plot bunny [here](https://shenno-r.tumblr.com/post/186917490764/im-sitting-for-a-long-time-and-try-to-write-one) on my tumblr tho. Also, while we are at it, most of my fandom time I spend doing fan art (valvert and now GO), which you can find at this [tag](https://shenno-r.tumblr.com/tagged/my-art).
> 
> Update: [here](https://shenno-r.tumblr.com/post/187130897099/shenno-r-im-sitting-for-a-long-time-and-try-to) you can find more headcanons for this AU now.
> 
> Update 2: now with an [artwork](https://shenno-r.tumblr.com/post/187155535519/valvert-good-omensau-i-just-have-no-chill) because I have no chill.


End file.
